Seattle’s Judge Judy Suspended For Abusive Courtroom Conduct

Judge Judith Raub Eiler has been billed Seattle’s Judge Judy — abrasive and grandstanding. Her reviews, however, have become increasingly harsh from her colleagues who suspended her for her abusive treatment of lawyers and parties.

Eiler is widely criticized for her sarcastic and rude treatment of individuals in her courtroom, including hurling insults ala Judge Judy who is widely viewed by lawyers as a disgrace to the profession.

Eiler was first sanctioned in 2004 by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct for “a pattern or practice of rude, impatient and undignified treatment” of the people who appeared before her. She admitted to the violation and agreed to participate in behavioral therapy. However, she was quickly accused of the same conduct in court and in 2008, she was again accused of abuse.

The Commission, however, rejected a demand from the disciplinary counsel to remove Judge Eiler permanently from the bench. Instead the commission suspended her for 90 days without pay. To the criticism of many, the Washington Supreme Court then reduced that sanction to just five days.

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When I was a kid my dad had a lot of business at city hall & in the summer I would tag along & sit in court rooms. It was highly educational and I would strongly recommend it unless you like cop or courtroom dramas on TV (in which case you will either be disappointed at the real thing or nauseated by the TV version).

Thug Judy always pissed me off because she in no way behaves like a judge – she is a thug in a robe. While I have seen judges embarrass or scold lawyers I never saw one shout down a witness, demand simplistic answers or pretend they knew every ultimate truth. Maybe I never ran into this one though :)

Really though why the ABA and whatever other orgs represent judges, lawyers & the legal profession don’t publicly demand that these TV ‘judges’ wear red noses and orange wigs so as to identify them as not professional is beyond me.

Well I was subjected to summary imprisonment by former judge Naughty Nottingham. The FBI website says that is a crime.

Nottingham had a years’ long reputation for abusing lawyers. I met a lawyer in Wisconsin who told me that when he had an interstate case before Nottingham, Nottingham would go out of his way to schedule to force the lawyer to spend the night.

The way that I look at it judges are supposed to obey the same rules. Rule 1 is good — avoiding techniques causing delay and increasing costs. The Rules of Evidence limit the introduction of irrelevant or character evidence — that means the judge should simply ignore misspellings because they are irrelevant and should avoid name calling. The Rules of Evidence wouldn’t be written the way they are if they didn’t work when followed.

Looking back I wonder if Nottingham cultivated an image as having a mean tongue because it let him get away with basically criminal conduct.

I don’t know about America, but in Europe the so-called judges and lawyers all wear masonic outfit; their robes and wigs, the gavel and usually the emblems in the court-room are all maonic. How did it come to this situation of free ctizens of America and Europe are judged and sentenced by members of secret,non-public societies???

1 : concerned with the individual rather than society
2 : taking the ego as the starting point in philosophy
3 a : limited in outlook or concern to one’s own activities or needs”

yes, but there is a difference between a healthy ego, which we all need for survival, and excessive overbloated ego which is often just compensatory for poor self-esteem. Clearly it sounds like something has gone amok …

Never had the “privilege” of practicing before her, but they need some three strikes and yer out on this lady. All the behavioral training in the world won’t help her.

I practiced before a male bankruptcy judge in NDTX(Dallas Division) who was so notoriously awful that people tried to figure out how to file outside the Dallas Division, just to avoid this guy. It was better to drive 50 miles to Nowhere’sville, TX, than to deal with him. Finally he strangled on a chicken bone.

I have it on good authority, from this website no less, that the American Bar Association disciplines all problem attorneys. I would hope that pertains to judges, also; though if the judge isn’t an attorney maybe that doesn’t apply?

Probably all the problems we see are simply those that the ABA hasn’t gotten to yet.

Where did you get the idea that the American Bar Association disciplines problem attorneys? I think many many years ago “bad” attorneys were excluded from bar associations but now all they have to do is pay to join. Am I missing something?

“Two Luzerne County Judges yesterday pleaded guilty to federal charges that they received millions of dollars in kickbacks from two persons engaged in the operation and construction of juvenile detention facilities in
Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The guilty pleas of Judges Mark Ciavarella, Jr. and Michael T. Conahan resulted in seven year prison sentences for both men. The offenders must pay restitution and resign from their positions. The Pennsylvania state bar association is expected to immediately and permanently disbar both judges from the practice of law.”

“Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong has been disbarred after being found guilty of a battery of ethics violations for his handling of the Duke Lacrosse investigation, a North Carolina Bar disciplinary committee announced Saturday evening. “We are in unanimous agreement that there is no discipline short of disbarment that would be appropiate in this case,” said F. Lane Williamson, the committee’s chairman.”

10-08-22 RE: SC087400- Complaint against former Judge Patricia Collins, Judge Lisa Hart-Cole, Attorney David Pasternak, Old Republic International (NYSE:ORI) and others – for public corruption and racketeering by judges, financial institutions, and large law-firms in pretense proceedings at the Los Angeles Superior Court.
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Los Angles, August 22 – complaint was filed with US Attorney Office, Central District of California, and Prof Laurence Tribe – Senior Counsel, US Department Of Justice, Access to Justice Initiative, by Human Rights Alert (NGO) and Joseph Zernik, PhD, against former Judge Patricia Collins, Judge Lisa Hart-Cole, Attorney David Pasternak, Old Republic International (NYSE:ORI), and Attorney Richard Ormond (Buchalter Nemer, LLP) – for public corruption and racketeering in pretense proceedings at the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles. Others named as accused in the complaint were Judge Jacqueline Connor, Presiding Judge Charles McCoy, Judge in Charge of Writs and Receiverships David Yaffe, Clerk of the Court John A Clarke, and Court Counsel Fredrick Bennett, who were all alleged as central figures in conduct of a racketeering enterprise at the Court.
In early December 2007, Attorney David Pasternak, acting as pretense “Receiver” on behalf of the Court under Samaan v Zernik (SC087400), was perpetrating real estate fraud, as later opined by highly-decorated FBI veteran, fraud expert James Wedick. Target of the fraud was Beverly Hills property of Complainant Zernik. Judge Jacqueline Connor had instigated the scheme two years earlier.
To accomplish the fraud, collusion by Mara Escrow, a subsidiary of ORI – a large financial institution, was required. However, Complainant alerted Mara’s Senior Escrow Officer Liz Cohen that she was about to perpetrate real estate fraud. Therefore, Ms Cohen refused to collude with Attorney Pasternak and the Court.
On December 7, 2007, to overcome the hurdles, Attorney David Pasternak and others engaged in two pretense “Ex Parte Proceedings” in two separate courthouses on the same morning:
1) In the first “Ex Parte Proceeding”, at the Beverly Hills Courthouse, Attorney David Pasternak, acting as pretense “Receiver” – with no valid and effectual Appointment Order, and Attorney Richard Ormond, on behalf of Mara Escrow, appeared before Judge Lisa Hart-Cole to request Court approval of various documents, never previously seen by Complainant, including, but not limited to:
a. “Grant Deeds”, which were later opined as “fraud”;
b. “Indemnity Agreement” for Mara Escrow – for future criminalities, and
c. Gag Orders – to prohibit pro se Defendant from speech in defense of self with escrow or with the title company, who were conspiring with Attorney Pasternak, the Court, and others to commit real estate fraud.
At the onset, Defendant filed a Peremptory Challenge with Judge Hart-Cole. In the proceeding that ensued, both Judge Hart-Cole and Attorney Richard Ormond refused to disclose the name of the latter, or the identity of the party, which he represented in Court in the proceeding.
Consequently, Judge Hart-Cole issued Minutes of Recusal. However, later she secretly “disposed” of the Minutes in Sustain – the Court’s case management system, effectively eliminating the proceeding from the record.
2) In the second “Ex Parte Proceeding”, at the Santa Monica Courthouse, Judge Patricia Collins introduced Attorney Pasternak as an “Ad Hoc Receiver”. In response to then Defendant Zernik’s objections for abuse of Free Speech and Possession rights in such “Ex Parte Proceeding”, Attorney Pasternak justified the need for the proceeding in his shortage of funds. Judge Collins then pretended in open court to approve Attorney Pasternak’s requests. However, Judge Collins secretly created for the proceeding void registration and void Minutes in Sustain – with no certification by Clerk.
Consequently, on December 17, 2007, Attorney Pasternak concluded the fraud in conveyance of title on the property. However, the fraud in conduct of Samaan v Zernik continues to this date – the case continues to be listed as “Pending” – since no Judgment was ever entered in the case.

The complaint alleged that the mere notion of conducting such proceedings at the Court reflected the impunity of the enterprise.

Pretense “Receiverships” by Attorney Pasternak in other cases at the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, were documented in complaints previously filed with the US Attorney Office. The scheme was claimed as part of the larger enterprise, founded in the conduct of pretense proceedings and issuing of pretense minutes, pretense orders, and pretense judgments. Sustain, the case management system of the Court, was alleged as the enabling tool of the racket.

The complaint, was claimed of high public policy significance, since David Pasternak, who was alleged in a series of complaints as a central figure in the enterprise, was former President of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, former Member of the California Judicial Council, and former President of Bet Tzedek (“The House of Justice”) – a prominent Los Angeles Jewish/legal charity. Therefore, the complaint alleged that his conduct reflected widespread public corruption of both the California courts and the legal profession.

Moreover, the complaint alleged that conduct of Samaan v Zernik was unique in documenting conditions, where the Los Angeles Superior Court was not only permissive and conducive, but also coercive of criminalities by financial institutions. The complaint alleged such conditions – collusion of judges, large financial institutions, and large law-firms in an enterprise – undermined any prospect of establishing effective banking regulation in the United States.

The complaint quoted the official Blue Ribbon Review Panel (2006), which concluded that the Los Angeles Superior Court “must be investigated”, and highly decorated FBI veteran, Fraud Expert James Wedick, who opined (2008) “investigation should be immediately instituted”, as well as Congressional Inquiries on FBI and US Department of Justice by the Hon Dianne Feinstein, Senator, (2008, 2010) and the Hon Diane Watson, Congresswoman, (2008) in related matters. Complainant asked the US Department of Justice to institute such investigation and accord equal protection to all 10 million residents of Los Angeles County, California.

Judges were previously prosecuted for racketeering in San Jose and San Diego, California, and in Cook County, Illinois. Judges are today prosecuted for racketeering in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Judges are also prosecuted in El Paso Texas, and large-scale corruption of the courts and the legal profession is under investigation in Florida. Senior Counsel Laurence Tribe recently warned of deteriorating conditions at the state courts in the US, comparing them to those of “third world” nations.

Human Rights Alert is dedicated to discovering, archiving, and disseminating evidence of Human Rights violations by the justice system in Los Angeles County, California, and beyond. Special emphasis is given to the unique role of computerized case management and online public access systems in the precipitous deterioration of integrity of the courts in the United States.

LINKS
[1] 10-08-22 RE: SC087400- Complaint against former Judge Patricia Collins, Judge Lisa Hart-Cole, Attorney David Pasternak, Old Republic International (NYSE:ORI) and others – for public corruption and racketeering by judges, financial institutions, and large law-firms in pretense proceedings at the Court.

1.) A district attorney prosecuted me without a warrant or arrest or police statement that a crime was committed. She refused to say what the probable cause might be but when I pled not guilty she dismissed the criminal charge. By law that required an oral hearing but she did that without an oral hearing and then told the press that there was probable cause but a trial was too expensive. She prosecuted me in response to request by the city council president’s wife who complained that I complained that they built extra buildings that violate the zoning. These extra buildings were never added to the property tax rolls despite 10 years. Two have plumbing and heating.

2.) The City Attorney discussed the city council president’s NCIC records but didn’t alert the public that the City Council President pled guilty to conspiracy to sell hashish even though the police reported to him.

3.) I was forced to sell the city council president land for $1 and give up my rights to use the street adjoining my property under threat that I would be criminally prosecuted for trimming without a trimming permit even though no Steamboat Springs trimming permit was ever given to anyone else and virtually 100% of landowners trimmed anyway. The district attorney knew this. The prosecutor’s husband was a real estate developer (who advertised a development parcel for $20 million).

4.) Several lawyers said or mailed threatening statements to me and/or my husband that explicitly or implicitly threatened violence under Color of Law to both of us unless we gave up our civil claims.

5.) The civil defense lawyers involved in my case repeatedly billed to call the federal Court to discuss future judicial events in an informal unrecorded setting without the presence of us, the plaintiffs.

7.) I was ordered to pay $104K of attorney fee shifting without a statutory basis and without any rule 11 6. c. orders. Two of the law firms that I was ordered to pay didn’t even appear in the action and one didn’t even exist the year that the services were claimed.

8.) I was told in court in a civil proceeding that I wasn’t entitled to a lawyer nor to a evidentiary hearing or anything beyond a 5 minute presentation which former judge Nottingham vowed that he would not listen to before I would be sent to jail without a bail hearing or sentence until I did what they wanted.

All of the above and more, I informed the Colorado Attorney Regulation Counsel about on multiple occasions.

Compare regulation of automobiles with regulation of attorneys. With automobile regulation, the regulators are paid by the taxpayer. With automobile regulation, there is mandatory reporting of complaints. With automobile regulation, all the meetings are open to the public and all the records are accessible thru open records requests.

What would you think of the idea of a bar association that is funded by the customers of legal services. It could offer a superior brand of lawyer, an honest lawyer. If you want to impress your fiance, you would hire an honest lawyer to do your prenuptial agreement. If you want to close your business deal, you will hire an honest lawyer to write the contract. You know he is an honest lawyer because he is a member of the Better Bar Association.

The Better Bar Association could have a super website where people could post praise or complaints about lawyers on blogs under their name. The lawyers could respond. The web site could link to documents.

I think that would be just as ridiculous as someone with a personal grudge dragging it about like an albatross that they insist on talking about endlessly. You’re a perfect example of what’s wrong with that concept. What you suggest is an open invitation to defamation from clients who didn’t win for whatever reason wanting to smear their attorney, rightfully or (most often) not.